Whenever you contest information on your credit report, the agency will contact the lender or collection agency to verify the debt and your information. If they don't get a response from the company, they will remove the information and that will eventually help your credit score. A credit repair organization may be able to help if your credit report has erroneous information from a company that is no longer in business by working with the reporting agency to remove the information quickly.
By co-signing, you agreed to be the backup payer on the account in case the primary folks defaulted (as it appears that they did). If the debt is past due by six years, check your state's Statute of Limitations for debt collection - many states only give creditors 3-4 years to collect on a debt, after which point they cannot bring you to court. A Partial payment will re-set this clock. You may also hit the 7 year limit for how long it can stay on your report (7 years from the date it was first past due with the cable company).
Borrowing from your 401(k) may be the best option for you, since it won’t count as new debt and you pay yourself back interest rather than paying it to a bank. However, if a 401(k) loan isn’t an option, then you’ll need to select a debt consolidation loan. When it comes to debt consolidation, there are lots of scams out there. Review the following options to make sure you’re making the right choice.
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A report by FICO® showed that younger consumers can earn high credit scores with excellent credit behavior. 93% of consumers with credit scores between 750 and 799 who were under age 29 never had a late payment on their credit report. In contrast, 57% of the total population had at least one delinquency. This good credit group also used less of their available credit. They had an average revolving credit utilization ratio of 6%. The nation as a whole had a utilization ratio of 15%.39
CreditRepair.com has a relationship with TransUnion, so they can actually pull your credit score for you, which is extremely helpful. They also have an “A” rating from the BBB. The only downside to CreditRepair.com is the cost. They charge $89.95 a month, although they don’t have an initial fee like most other credit repair services. With the $89.95, you get your standard credit repair services, as well as monthly credit monitoring, a score tracker and analysis, mobile apps and text and email alerts.
Borrowing from your 401(k) may be the best option for you, since it won’t count as new debt and you pay yourself back interest rather than paying it to a bank. However, if a 401(k) loan isn’t an option, then you’ll need to select a debt consolidation loan. When it comes to debt consolidation, there are lots of scams out there. Review the following options to make sure you’re making the right choice.

Making your credit payments on time is one of the biggest contributing factors to your credit scores. Some banks offer payment reminders through their online banking portals that can send you an email or text message reminding you when a payment is due. You could also consider enrolling in automatic payments through your credit card and loan providers to have payments automatically debited from your bank account, but this only makes the minimum payment on your credit cards and does not help instill a sense of money management.